Family

Meet Rob Mack – Aphelion Founder & Winemaker

Rob as Founder, Director and one half of Aphelion Wine Co. is responsible for winemaking, business management and sales. This includes grower relationships, grape purchase, winemaking, bottling, packaging, customer relationships with restaurants, hotels, retail outlets, special event promotion, reviews, and wine shows. Strategic decisions for the business are shared between us, generally over dinner and a glass of wine.

Raised in Adelaide, Rob started Aphelion with a dream to hand craft premium wines in McLaren Vale, to showcase the unique growing conditions and the variety of each parcel of fruit.

Prior to striking out on his own, Rob worked at Kilikanoon in the Clare Valley, Laithwaites Wine People in Sydney and McLaren Vale Winemakers in McLaren Vale.

Rob’s a smart cookie with a business degree from UTS and a great palate after completing the Advanced Wine Assessment Course, as well as a WSET Level 3 Cert. In 2016 Rob graduated with a Bachelor of Wine Science from Charles Sturt Uni after six years of study along with a University Prize where he was recognised as the graduate with the highest skill in sparkling wine production.

In his (limited) spare time, Rob likes to go mountain bike riding in the Willunga Hills, walk his wine dog on the beach, play with his wine cat, travel, and go skiing.

Meet Louise Rhodes – Aphelion Founder

Louise as Founder and one half of Aphelion Wine is responsible for business management and sales. This includes order dispatch, accounting, sales, public relations, marketing, website, social media and special event promotion, reviews, and wine shows. Strategic decisions for the business are shared between us, generally over dinner and a glass of wine.

Lou assists with the winemaking process as Rob’s right-hand-woman, her artworks adorn the labels and all business decision making is done together.

Louise grew up in the bush suburbs north of Sydney, riding bikes and horses, sampling her Dad’s wine collection and joining trips to the Hunter Valley.

A transition from her career as a corporate sustainability professional into wine and food feels like a natural one. Louise walks her talk, supporting an ethical, sustainable lifestyle that is so easy in the beautiful, abundant McLaren Vale region. Lou has a great palate and won the amateur blending competition at Lerida Estate in 2008 – beating Rob to the title!

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It is against the law to sell or supply alcohol to, or obtain alcohol on behalf of, a person under the age of 18. ABN: 48 614 335 134 | Liquor Licence Number: 50821919 All rights reserved by Aphelion Wine Co 2016